Hap and Leonard: Blood and Lemonade

by Joe R. Lansdale

ISBN: Print: 978-1-61696-253-1; Digital: 978-1-61696-254-8

Published: March 2017

Available Format(s): Trade Paperback and Digital Books

Discover Joe R. Lansdale’s compelling coming-of-age manifesto as you tune in to “Hap and Leonard: Mucho Mojo,” an action-packed, six-episode murder mystery adventure starring Michael K. Williams (The Wire) and James Purefoy (The Following), only on SundanceTV.

As a liberal young man in East Texas, Hap Collins is discovering his passion for two-fisted justice in a redneck world. Leonard Pine—black, gay, and the ultimate outsider—is already fighting his own battles against racists and bullies. So when Hap sees Leonard demolishing an angry mob with his fists (and taunts), it’s immediately clear that these two young men have a lot in common.

SundanceTV has renewed HAP AND LEONARD series for a third season!

Praise for Hap and Leonard: Blood and Lemonade

[STARRED REVIEW] “Showcases some of Lansdale’s most personal and reflective writing to date.”
—Publishers Weekly

“If Frank Dobie is the Lone Star State’s Homer, if Larry McMurtry is the Texas equivalent of Henry James, then Joe R. Lansdale has to be the Mark Twain behind the pine curtain. No other writer—in Texas or any other state in the union—can switch between gut-bursting humor and nail-biting suspense with as much heart and grace as Lansdale . . . Blood and Lemonade is a must-have for just about everyone.”
—Texas Book in Review

“Joe R. Lansdale’s Blood and Lemonade is a masterpiece of addictive and stylistic storytelling.”
—Risingshadow

“Joe Lansdale is our East Texas Hemingway, and here’s another example of what makes him great. In Hap & Leonard: Blood and Lemonade, he carves out beauty with plain words and direct sentences. Some of the stories in this mosaic novel are horrifying, others gritty, sad, thrilling, and funny, but all of them are beautiful. I ate it up.”
—Daryl Gregory, author of Spoonbenders and We Are All Completely Fine

“A brilliant ‘mosaic’ novel. An amazingly vivid style that feels like Hemingway. Themes that are especially important for our time. With these early adventures of his compelling Hap and Leonard characters, Joe. R. Lansdale hits a new high.”
—David Morrell, New York Times bestselling author of Murder As a Fine Art

“Blood and Lemonade is the best of Lansdale and the best of Hap and Leonard. As urgent as it is timeless. As fun as it is thoughtful. It haunts you while it kicks your ass. Joe never lets you down, just shows you over and over why he’s the best.”
—Jim Mickle, director of Cold in July

“Magnificent storytelling.”
—Char’s Horror Corner

“Hap and Leonard: Blood and Lemonade is something truly special. You are going to love it”
—Horror Drive-In

“The dialogue is pitch perfect . . . thoughtful, rather clever, and with enough bullets and banter to satisfy the most demanding reader.”
—Sci-Fi and Fantasy Reviews

“When you come right down to it, this may be my favorite Hap and Leonard book ever, and that’s saying a lot.”
—Chet Williamson, author of Psycho Sanitarium

“Exceptional . . . Hap and Leonard: Blood and Lemonade is a wonderful piece of storytelling, and a worthy addition to a great series.”
—October Country

Joe R. Lansdale is the internationally-bestselling author of over forty novels, including twelve books featuring the popular Hap and Leonard. Many of his cult classics have been adapted for television and film, most famously Bubba Ho-Tep, starring Bruce Campbell and Ossie Davis. Lansdale has written numerous screenplays and teleplays, including for the iconic Batman the Animated Series. He has won an Edgar Award for The Bottoms, ten Stoker Awards, and has been designated a World Horror Grandmaster. Lansdale, like many of his characters, lives in East Texas.

Praise for Hap and Leonard

“Seven laid-back adventures, one of them brand new, for “freelance troubleshooter” and good old boy Hap Collins and his gay black Republican partner Leonard Pine. . . . No one currently working the field demonstrates more convincingly and joyously the deep affinity between pulp fiction and the American tall tale.”
—Kirkus

[STAR] “Last seen in the novel Honky Tonk Samurai, Lansdale’s incomparable East Texas crime fighting duo show their chops in this remarkable story collection. Hap Collins, a straight, white liberal, and Leonard Pine, a black, gay conservative, have long challenged genre conventions, and the friendship and camaraderie between these two hard cases as they suit up against injustice and hypocrisy is at the heart of these seven tales. In the novella “Hyenas,” the boys help save a client’s impressionable younger brother from the clutches of a group of psychotic robbers. “Dead Aim” finds the pair taking on the Dixie Mafia after a seemingly straightforward cheating spouse case gets a tad more complicated. “Not Our Kind” is set against the backdrop of the late 1960s, when a teenage Hap first befriends Leonard and faces the racism and intolerance of his peers up close. Readers can also look forward to the debut of the TV show Hap and Leonard on the Sundance Channel in March.
—Publishers Weekly, starred review

“An essential Hap and Leonard addition”
—The Novel Pursuit

“As Mr. Lansdale might say, “This was more fun than rolling down a hill with a bunch of armadillos.”
—Horror Novel Reviews

“. . . it’s great to have all of these wonderful stories together in one nifty volume”
—Horror Drive-In

“This collection is crime/pulp fiction at its best and most captivating.”
—Risingshadow

“short, concentrated bursts of everything that makes the series so good.”
—October Country

“If you find yourself on the wrong side of Hap and Leonard, be cautious, because they are quicker than a rattlesnake, and their bite is just as bad. If you find yourself an innocent bystander looking for a great book to read, you’ve come to the right place.”
—Killer Nashville

“If you are a fan of the genre and looking for a new character to get into, Hap and Leonard won’t steer you wrong.”
—LitReactor

“For those new to either Lansdale or the series, this latest collection is an excellent introduction to the kind of trouble these two often find themselves in; all the while exchanging some of the funniest, lovingly antagonistic, and memorial dialogue of any crime series.”
—Bookgasm

“If you haven’t read any of the dozen or so Hap and Leonard novels, start here.”
—Lone Star Literary

Praise for Joe R. Lansdale

“A folklorist’s eye for telling detail and a front-porch raconteur’s sense of pace.”
—New York Times Book Review

“An American original”
-Joe Hill, author of Heart-Shaped Box

“A terrifically gifted storyteller.”
—Washington Post Book Review

“Like gold standard writers Elmore Leonard and the late Donald Westlake, Joe R. Lansdale is one of the more versatile writers in America.
—Los Angeles Times

“Lansdale is a storyteller in the Texas tradition of outrageousness…but amped up to about 100,000 watts.”
—Houston Chronicle

“Lansdale’s been hailed, at varying points in his career, as the new Flannery O’Connor, William Faulkner-gone-madder, and the last surviving splatterpunk…sanctified in the blood of the walking Western dead and righteously readable.”
—Austin Chronicle

Praise for Cold in July

“…impressive Realism-meets-Road House-circa ’89 fight-scenes, tailings, and gunfights…. You’re sure to finish this book fast, but you’re also sure to think on it slowly.”
—Lit Reactor

“One of the benefits of Cold in July being made into an independent movie (adapted by screenwriter/actor Nick Damici and directed by Jim Mickle) is this new, movie tie-in edition from Tachyon, Joe R. Landsdale’s publisher….a finely told crime story.”
—Bookgasm

“…a crime fiction classic.”
—The Novel Pursuit

“It’s a major novel, full of darkness, humor, passion, and truth.”
—Lewis Shiner, author of Glimpses and Mozart in Mirroshades (with Bruce Sterling)

“I can’t think of a more remarkable suspense novel in the last few years. Cold in July has it all….”
—Ed Gorman, author of The Poker Club